NORFOLK, Virginia — The Chesapeake obstetrician and gynecologist who's accused of performing needless surgeries on women without their consent entered a not guilty plea to all charges against him.
Javaid Perwaiz was arraigned Wednesday for numerous charges he faces like healthcare fraud, aggravated identity theft, false statements related to healthcare matters and forfeiture.
He was first charged in November with healthcare fraud and making false statements, but he was indicted later on aggravated identity theft charges after investigators found he used the social security number and Medicaid ID number of two of his patients.
Law enforcement shut down two clinics Perwaiz once operated in Chesapeake. Investigators believe he's been committing healthcare fraud for nearly 10 years.
The FBI reported that 173 patients reached out to their agency ever since Perwaiz was charged.
According to court documents, Perwaiz did not always have appropriately functioning tools to perform the surgeries.
One of Perwaiz's alleged former patients, Patricia Pindell said the news is terrifying.
"You don't know what kind of tools they're using. Once you go under, you don't know what they're doing to you. They could tell you one thing, but they could do another one, and that's what happened to a lot of us," said Pindell.
Further court documents said Perwaiz recorded in medical records that patients made reports of symptoms and health complaints that they never actually voiced to him.
"I saw my medical records and there was a lot of stuff in there that he said I said, and I didn't say it," said Pindell.
Perwaiz's alleged former patient Luqueen Williams said that she worked with FBI investigators for her medical records.
"I've talked to the FBI, they came and collected my records, and looked at it and they asked me some questions about what kind of procedures he did on me," said Williams.
According to court documents, Perwaiz recorded in medical records that patients made reports of health complaints that they never actually voiced to him and sought out particular reproductive surgeries.
"I did look over my records and I did see in my records that he was stating that I was complaining about pelvic pain, but I never complained about any pain to Dr. Perwaiz," said Williams.
Court documents also said Perwaiz sent tens of thousands of claims to health care benefit programs for surgeries.
Perwaiz has a motion hearing on Thursday after his lawyers filed a motion to dismiss the detention order against him.
In November, prosecutors filed a motion to keep the doctor detained until his trial, which was approved by a judge. After Perwaiz's lawyers filed to get the order lifted claiming that the doctor isn't a danger to the community, the court dismissed the motion.
Perwaiz also requested a jury trial which was scheduled for June 2, 2020.
Court documents show plaintiffs in multiple lawsuits allege that Perwaiz performed up to 30 surgeries in one day and that some ended in irreparable injuries.
You can read the full indictment below: